Archive | December, 2013

We’re Lillian Cohen-Moore and Ryan Macklin, a couple in Seattle who love to play with horror. You might know us from our work on the recent Mage: the Ascension books that focused on factions within the Technocratic Union. What you might not know, though, is that we met and bonded over playing another horror game: Don’t Rest Your Head. Horror and dark fantasy is near and dear to our hearts, and Flames Rising wanted to give us a moment to talk about our time working as a couple in horror gaming.

During our time with the Technocratic Union, horror was a subtle constant throughout the books. Since we live together, we could turn around in our desk chairs to propose ideas for how to keep the horror elements in the Technocracy from becoming cartoonish, like some of the early material for them.

The Garou are not the only changing creatures to stalk the world. Other shapeshifters hunt in places where wolves do not tread, from sun-lost seas to the darkest jungles, or seek out hidden truths, using the secrets they uncover in the battle against the Wyrm. Shapeshifting spiders spin webs as deftly as they manipulate those around them. Bloody-handed serpents kill swiftly, and then vanish into shadow and myth. The Changing Breeds have their own crucial parts to play in these End these End Times, and must work together or Gaia will surely fall.

A Menagerie of Gaia’s Children

This book brings the Changing Breeds right up to date, giving both players and Storytellers all of the tools needed to integrate shapeshifters other than werewolves into the World of Darkness. Eleven extant Changing Breeds are described in detail, along with three long-extinct Lost Breeds.

With all the Conspiracies, the intrigue, the danger, it’s hard to know what exactly is and isn’t on your side. When every shadow from the back alleys of Bucharest to the back benches of the parliament could hide an inhuman enemy, it’s hard to tell what solid ground you can stand on. What can you depend on? Can you make a difference? Trust no one and nothing except the silver bullets in your Glock. To make a difference, aim true.

Even then, sometimes that first shot isn’t a killer. Sometimes you need a double tap.

Windows into the fantastic, from crypts to cobras, swords to submarines, rubies to railroads, heaven to hell and places stranger still. Heroes, horrors, and hijinks–both original to this collection and reprinted from a variety of sources–from the mind of Ari Marmell, author of The Conqueror’s Shadow, The Goblin Corps, Darksiders: the Abomination Vault, the Widdershins Adventures series, and more.

In Strange New Words, let Ari Marmell guide you through over a dozen windows into the fantastic.

Mind’s Eye Theatre: Vampire The Masquerade is a new edition of a classic game that draws on more than two decades’ worth of material from the iconic World of Darkness setting. The rules are designed and adapted specifically for the Live Action Roleplay environment, while maintaining the fidelity of the original game. Whether you’re a veteran player or discovering live-action roleplaying for the first time, this book contains everything you need to create and play a vampire character or create your own live-action chronicle.

All the clans. All the bloodlines. All the disciplines. This is a complete game, containing everything you need to enjoy Vampire The Masquerade in one of its most thrilling formats. A streamlined character creation system that is quick, yet comprehensive.

Tonight, you become one of the Kindred, the beautiful and the damned who hide behind our ordinary world. Driven by a hunger like fire, you will struggle to maintain your humanity while immersed in a vicious society of monsters.

But the sharks you swim with aren’t the only ones out there. Your Kindred are the smart, sexy vampires of pop culture, but you are haunted by the Strix — the grisly, demon-possessed corpses of folklore. They slaughtered the Night-Senate of Rome, drowned the tombs of the Princes of Alexandria, and warred with the Plague Lords of Transylvania.

“Officially, it’s the Department of Cryptozoology, Mythological Studies, Parapsychology and Fortean Phenomena. But to the rest of the students and staff at the Dunsany College, baffled by the cloak of secrecy that surrounds the Department and its affairs, it has another, more dismissive, name: The Department of Monsterology. Their brief: to investigate the dark and unexplored corners of our world – the places we’ve forgotten, lost or believe to be mythical. And to study those things that may still be lurking there.”

Looking at the cover of “Dept. of Monsterology” from Renegade Arts Entertainment, I knew right off the bat that it had potential. The color palette is minimal and bleak, with plenty of blackness and shadows mixed in to compliment the mysterious tone of the comic.

The third and final book in Tim Hawken’s Hellbound Trilogy is set for release this December, amid development of a film franchise for the series. Titled Deicide, the novel concludes the epic story, which depicts a world of Hell never seen before.

Early critical acclaim and a strong cult following for Hellbound meant Hawken’s work captured the attention of Hollywood right from the start. The author has recently signed partnerships with both Luber Roklin Entertainment and Savela/Kabatoff Productions to help bring his vision to the silver screen. In addition, actor Charlie Bewley (Twilight, Vampire Diaries, Hammer of the Gods) has been attached to play the lead character of Michael in the films.

11 Tales of Ghostly Horror

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The new Review Guidelines have been posted on the Flames Rising website. We are currently seeking a few good reviewers to help us expand our collection of horror and dark fantasy reviews. RPGs, fiction, movies, video games and more are all welcome on the site...

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